1. Field of the Invention
Kidney dialysis patients have their blood removed and washed to clear it of impurities caused by non-function of the kidneys. This is normally accomplished by removing the blood from an artery in the arm and reinserting the washed blood into a vein in the same arm. The patients arm is preliminarily surgically treated to create a fistula or shunt between an artery and a vein. A needle is inserted into the artery from which blood is to be taken through flexible plastic tubes to the blood treating machine. A second needle is then inserted into the arm vein for the return of the dialyzed blood from the machine. The treatment lasts for several hours.
When the treatment is completed the needles are removed, one at a time and pressure must be applied to the needle hole to avoid the escapement of blood. As a rule a piece of gauze is placed on top of the needle hole and the patient asked to place his fingers in a firm grasp on the gauze cover. It usually takes from five to 15 minutes to cause the blood to coagulate and permit the gauze to be removed. The patients holding fingers tend to quiver and shake and cramp during the holding of the stick holes.
The mechanical clamp of the present invention is to be used in lieu of the finger holding. The clamp thus saves the patient the ordeal of holding his needle holes. It is preferred that two such clamps be used to cover both stick holes so that the needles may be removed substantially simultaneously and coagulation can be proceeding at both stick holes thus reducing overall coagulation time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a clamp on the market to be used for dialysis. It is a scissors type of clamp, more like a spring biased clothespin. It has a number of deficiencies in that it exerts a pressure at an acute angle relative to the patient's arm rather than a direct vertical pressure which is more effective. Also, the prior clothespin type of clamp is fragile and tends to break down easily during use and further is prohibitive in cost.